A uranium-fueled nuclear weapon nicknamed Little Boy exploded over Hiroshima only three weeks after the Trinity test. A uranium-fueled nuclear weapon had not even been tested on the Trinity site. It was the Plutonium-fueled imploding bomb that most concerned and excited Manhattan Project scientists. The potential for destruction and sheer military might became starkly visible on July 16, 1945. Fat Man, a bomb modeled after the one imploded at Trinity, imploded at Nagasaki on August 9 of that year, forcing the Japanese surrender. The Second World War came to an end, but the Cold War would usher in a new era of intense fear.

The White Sands Missile Range remains "one of the most sophisticated test facilities in the world," ("Trinity Site Pamphlet"). Anti-proliferation treaties reflect the understanding that nuclear weapons remain a major threat to world peace. With hardly any evidence and only one plutonium test at Trinity, the...
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